Back in August of 2012, I had what was to be my final court date to save my home from repossession, again here were in court pleading my case, I did have extenuating circumstances and had already had one repossession dismissed to give me a further 6 weeks.

Now herein lies the problem, your caught up in the bureaucracy, it’s better to have everything in writing, but it takes them up to 14 days to reply, if you phone it just evaporates as the people at the other end don’t always give their names or forget.or just deny any such phone call was made.

You can visit your mortgage company, who do listen and will help but at the end of the day they just want their money.

Citizens Advice will help you draft letter and also make phone calls on your behalf, but as with my case the person who was my case worker was off on sick leave, and she had all the information, and her colleagues with heavy case loads of their own would only really take messages, but couldn’t do anything in a practical way of assistance.

You can begin packing and storing your possessions, but that cost money and friends might allow you to use some space but only in the short-term, and to be honest this really wasn’t something I wanted to tell people about, I was ashamed, and more importantly you can’t get help until your actually out on the street.

You do get a letter from the Bailiffs office informing you of the date and time of their arrival, on the day I made a last-ditch effort to go to the County Court to plead my case alone, as the day before I didn’t get a stay of execution, I had a very small chance of overturning the magistrates decision.

Spending over 5 hours in court that day I begged, pleaded, cried produced 12 pages of documents, I even had a new job to start the next day, which would have given me half a chance all to no avail the order was to go ahead.

On the way home I received a phone call from the lender telling me they were on their way to my property, now with County Court Bailiffs they can gain access and remove you and your goods, in effect break into your property.

Imagine the scene when I arrived home they were already in possession, people walking around my home the locks had already been removed, I’ll be honest I became hysterical, my neighbour’s of some 20 years were all there berating the bailiffs/mortgage lender, it was an incredibly traumatic scene and one I’ll never forget.

Once I was calm enough they gave me an hour to pack a case and temporarily re-home my cats, the dilemma is also what to take and where was I going to sleep that night.

It was late in the day, therefore I couldn’t get any help and had to scrabble around to find somewhere to sleep in addition, the night shelter was mentioned (but that’s for another day) I was starting a new job the next day.

I packed what I could, one of my neighbour’s negotiated that I could come back in 14 days to remove the rest of my property my home! so there I was at 6pm homeless.Over 16.000 people were evicted/had their homes repossessed last year, through County Court who use bailiffs, well the figure is probably more that when you include children into the mix, if you are in receipt of benefits you can no longer as you don’t have an address, it’s a vicious cycle, and for me the realisation of how quickly you can become invisible.

Advertisements

Rate this:

Share this:

Like this:

LikeLoading...

Related

About therabbitholez

I returned to this blog in September 2014, after a 2 year absence, due to depressive illness and homelessness.
This journey charts the rocky road to recovery and my feelings about it, and getting a home together after losing everything, this too has been a rocky rocky, both things connected on many levels, but separate at the same time.
If you want to know more please read my blog:) and comment on any blog you like I enjoy the interaction, and belong to a great community on here.
Thanks for reading.:)

10 Responses to BAILIFFS

I’m not depressed anymore, however although I did get situated only to lose my place agin in November, so I have been sofa surfing/flat sitting for the last 4 months, but I’m hopeful:)
Thank you for your comment.

The thought of it is so terrifying. I watched a programme about it, “Bailiffs” and it broke my heart. It can all spiral out of control so quickly and to also lose your cats makes it all the worse, I’m sure. I really do hope you get something sorted soon

Well there are two types of bailiffs for debts, they are quite restricted and you don’t have to let them in, but when it comes to repossession, they can just break in and remove you and property, they were ok, but nonetheless the whole situation was scary and surreal.

I can imagine the pain. Yes, I think there are high court bailiffs and ones who get the order from magistrates. As far as I understand, you don’t need to let the magistrates order in but those from the high court can just break in. Is that right?

My heart goes out to you. My thoughts are with you. Take care of yourself.

I currently have a roof over my head because my parents took me in. But my mom already passed over and my dad is 83. The house he owns is now owned by the government with a reverse mortgage and when he passes, my son (27 years ols) and I will have 30 days to vacate. Vacate where? I have SSDI and no money for rent and he is still trying to get on his feet and my other 2 daughters don’t have room where they are, but I can’t see them letting me live on the street. I expect it will be a crazy time and with my mood changes and pain problems not much fun.

It will be difficult, and you can’t plan for when it will happen, I would suggest you gather as much information as you can, so at least you’ll know what steps you can take when the time comes.

When your dealing with mental health issue as well as chronic pain, it can make matters seem worse,I’m sure you daughters won’t see you homeless, so you at least have a couple of options, but as i say gather as much information as you can.